They stand in silence waiting for the London Express. Katherine Marie Anstis du Sautoy Newby draws her overcoat closer around her slim frame as the biting sea air sweeps across the platform at Ilfracombe station. Her husband Dr Newby stands beside her, grasping her arm just a little tighter than necessary. How easy it would be to return to their homely villa in Broad Park Avenue. Easy, but not an option, not this time.

Marie checks her portmanteau. Cotton wool, newspaper, small stones, identification, a change of dress, the bare essentials. ‘I’ve left menus with Elizabeth,’ she says, anxious to break the silence between them. ‘You just need to give her your schedule each week. And Elsie will attend to any household matters.’ ‘I’ll be perfectly well taken care of. I just wish I could say the same of you.’ He squeezes her hand discreetly.

​They said their farewells in the privacy of the drawing room but his touch is reassuring. There’s no turning back, Marie knows that, but she shivers at the prospect of what lies ahead. It’s one thing to read in the newspapers of the appalling brutality towards women, but soon she will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them. No-one knows what will happen then, not even Mrs Pankhurst.

Amazon 5 star ReviewA valuable and fascinating contribution to our understanding of the women's movement.This exploration of the campaign for women's suffrage in North Devon is a well written and carefully researched account. Although the national picture has been explored before, by focussing down on a specific geographical area and one that was away from the main centres of population, a whole new perspective is given to this topic. The work of the activists in the south-west is clearly set against the wider national context. I thought that the case study, describing the unfolding involvement of Marie Newby, whose story is interspersed between the general narrative, was particularly effective. The fact that I read this in the same way as I would a novel is indicative of its readability. Pamela Vass' detailed investigation into the regional manifestation of a national phenomenon is a valuable and fascinating contribution to our understanding of the women's movement.

Chapter One Excerpt:

Very little had happened in North Devon for almost thirty years before the YMCA livened things up with a debate in ilfracombe in 1909 when guest speaker Adela Pankhurst proposed that the franchise should be given to women. At a second debate in Barnstaple, Mr Rowe, the Conservative agent and convincing advocate for the women’s cause, dropped his bombshell: ’Before 1832 there was nothing in any Franchise Act that prevented women from voting. It was only when they tried to claim their vote that judges ruled a woman was legally incapacitated by her sex from doing so.’ Men and women might have equal duties and obligations, but any rights and privileges were reserved for men. The rights of half the nation were extinguished at a stroke! Mr Rowe’s speech was punctuated with positive arguments for change in support of the women. ’Those who have to obey the laws should have a voice in making them … Taxation and representation should go hand in hand … Women share the responsibility of managing cities and boroughs, choosing Parliamentary representatives needs no greater wisdom … It’s impossible for a council of wise men to legislate on questions concerning women without the assistance and guidance of that sex … How much longer can this absurd condition exist?’ How much longer indeed? It was a persuasive argument. Mr Rowe moved to the climax of his speech: ‘The spirit of justice and freedom will continue to triumph until the slavery of sex has followed that of caste, colour and race and woman, no longer the chattel of man, has taken her just place as his helpmate, companion, friend - with no rivalry between them, but that of noble thought and noble deed.’ There really was no argument against giving women the vote. The next speaker, Mr Copp, begged to differ, airing entrenched views the women were to hear time and time again: ‘There is a danger the easy-going public will drift into female suffrage with the indifference born of familiarity. (Laughter) … Women have done admirable work on Local Government bodies because they are within their rightful province. The extension of the franchise would place a burden on them for which they have neither capacity nor leisure … Voters moved chiefly by sentiment would be a great menace to the equilibrium of national politics … It is desirable that women should devote themselves to work other than political, their mental and moral development fitting them for a better fate.’ Mr Copp concluded, ‘Strive to be none other than you are, but to be that other well.’ (Laughter and applause.) The chairman opened up the debate to the floor. Perhaps surprisingly, the first speakers, all male, were not won over by Mr Copp’s arguments and spoke in support of the women: ’Ladies are perfectly able to cope with any legislative matters they come into contact with.’ (Applause) … ‘Ladies are the victims of convention which is unfair to the Ladies themselves.’ (Hear, hear) … ‘There is no sound argument to be brought against Women’s Suffrage’… ’What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and the women who pay the piper should be given an opportunity of selecting the tune.’ (Loud laughter) The Chairman moved to the vote: ’Those in favour of the Parliamentary franchise being granted to women.’ A forest of hands filled the room. ‘Thank you. The motion is passed by an overwhelming majority.’

In other parts of the country debate had already given way to action. Women were finding their political voice, confusing the male-dominated political world. What on earth was driving respectable women to dare to interrupt speakers at political meetings? They embarrassed themselves as much as others by acting in such an unladylike way. And as for their mass marches on the House of Commons, well, it couldn’t be helped if some were determined to make martyrs of themselves and end up in prison. They should stick to expressing their views as they had for years, with polite conversation and perhaps the occasional petition. Women had tried polite conversation and the occasional petition for over fifty years. Devon alone sent 253 petitions to Parliament with a national one, in 1896, signed by a quarter of a million women. There had been over 50,000 meetings, marches and rallies in the five years leading up to 1909, demonstrating massive support for change. But no amount of polite lobbying from the only suffrage organisation at the time, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), made the slightest difference. It was business as usual in the exclusively male House of Commons with MPs refusing to pass any Bills on Woman Suffrage. One woman was about to turn this polite lobbying on its head. Emmeline Pankhurst had campaigning in her blood. As a child she was bathed in arguments for women’s suffrage from her feminist mother and her equally pro-suffrage father. She even chose a husband who was a keen advocate of women’s rights. For years she worked within the polite and law-abiding NUWSS, but by 1903 it was obvious to Emmeline that the polite approach had failed. It was time to honour her family heritage and take centre stage: ‘In spite of the overwhelming demand which women have shown for the possession of the Parliamentary vote, in spite of the fact that every consideration of justice points to their right to possess it, the franchise has not been conceded, and in consequence women have found it necessary to take more vigorous measures.’ For Emmeline and her daughters, Christabel, Sylvia and Adela, this meant breaking away from the NUWSS to form the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a new group with a new slogan: Deeds not Words. Out with polite petitions. In with direct action. The WSPU grew rapidly, appointing regional organisers with the courage, eloquence and ability to galvanise crowds. The person destined to lead the campaign in the West Country had all of those qualities and more. She was Annie Kenney, the Oldham firebrand.